


Wherever You're Going, I'm Going Your Way (The Up the Coast Remix)

by kinetikatrue



Category: Hockey RPF, Philadelphia Flyers RPF
Genre: M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 12:05:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14236911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinetikatrue/pseuds/kinetikatrue
Summary: Every roadtrip starts somewhere.





	Wherever You're Going, I'm Going Your Way (The Up the Coast Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [remiges](https://archiveofourown.org/users/remiges/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Wherever You're Going (I'm Going Your Way)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13137993) by [remiges](https://archiveofourown.org/users/remiges/pseuds/remiges). 



_It’s nice_ , Danny thinks, _seeing Claude’s face again_. The beard hadn’t been bad, better than any of Danny’s own attempts have ever been - he’s never been able to produce much more than scruff - and the reason it’s gone isn’t a great one, since it went down with the Flyers’ hopes of winning a Cup. But the fact of the matter is that Danny just likes the lines and angles of Claude’s naked face. And he’ll be back to not seeing them much again next season. So he’s decided to enjoy hanging out with Claude and drinking a deceptively fruity mixed drink - and take the chance to look while he can.

Yeah, he needs to stop staring, soon, but for now Claude’s telling some ridiculous story about drunk Flyers rookies and it’s polite to look at people when they’re talking to you, right?

But then Claude says, “Caelan probably thinks you don’t know this, right? I’m not sure he remembers that _I_ know, even - but one night he showed up at my place, in the middle of the night, drunk off his ass, told me a friend had dropped him off. I got him a Gatorade, settled him on the couch - did _not_ ask him where Sylvie thought he was. I mean, what did it matter? He was here.

And then it turned out he was the chatty kind of drunk.”

“I’ve had a taste,” Danny admits, “And like you aren’t?”

“Point,” Claude says, agreeably, drinking some more of his own drink and smiling Danny’s favorite small smile, the one that makes him feel like there isn’t anybody else in the world but the two of them. “But he was telling me about all his friends’ drama - who was cheating, fighting, getting bad grades, going through a scoring drought, had divorcing parents or terrible step-parents or nobody around but the housekeeper, all that shit - and, boy, let me tell you, the way he told it I’d never been so happy my parents never put me through any of that.”

Danny’s about to say something about how he and Sylvie tried really hard to not be those parents - so hard - and tried to make the divorce as painless as possible for the boys, because he gets it, he does; he’s the product of the same kind of stable, long-lasting marriage as Claude is, wanted that for himself and his kids, and while he’s made his peace with not staying together for the kids, for the most part...

But Claude continues, “And I wasn’t going to say anything, honest, just let him talk himself out, but then he said how Sylvie’s boyfriend was okay - didn’t try to pal around with them or be their dad - but he was glad you hadn’t ever gotten serious about anybody because then ‘we wouldn’t have you, probably’. I was about to make a joke about how all he wanted me for was a place to crash when he didn’t want maman to know something…”

“He fell asleep on you. And woke up the next morning with a headache and no memory of how he got there,” Dany says, smiling. Caelan’s always been able to fall asleep just about any time, anywhere - and it’s worse when he’s drinking.

“He already told you?” Claude looks a little disappointed.

“Not about that time,” Danny admits. “But experience, remember? He’s done it to me a time or two, when he didn’t want Sylvie to find out. Though she’s always been more of a partier than me.”

“But when you’re a kid, you think all parents are boring - and you never want maman to see you like that,” Claude says, clearly arguing from experience, and of a more recent vintage than Danny’s.

“I was always more worried about my papa - but not these kids. And this one? Not so much a kid, now he’s off playing for the Junior Bruins and thinking about college. With Carson in Johnstown.” Danny stops, shakes his head - he can’t believe, sometimes, that two of his kids are already legally adults - and adds, “and me up in Maine, it’ll just be Cam, soon.”

“My favorite,” Claude says, teasingly, and raises his glass in a toast. “To a year with the best Briere.”

But Danny knows there’s some truth to it, that Cam has had a special place in Claude’s affections from the start - the youngest and smallest and most unlike the other Briere boys - and that he’ll be glad Claude is around when he can’t be, even while wishing that he could have Claude around, too. “So that means you won’t be coming to visit, I guess.”

“I’ve never been to Maine,” Claude says, musingly, while staring at the umbrella sticking out of his drink. “Maybe I should come do my laying on the beach, day-drinking there.”

Danny snorts and finds himself saying, “You could try it, if you don’t mind taking the long way getting there - I was thinking about taking one more scouting run through northeast PA and eastern NY, Vermont and Massachusetts and southern NH, catching college guys who haven’t signed anywhere before they pack up for the summer. And ending up in Portland, of course, though I don’t think anybody’s ever proposed Maine in May for a tropical beach vacation.” He’s rambling, a little, but sincere, because he _would_ enjoy having Claude along for the ride.

“Well, me and my plaid shorts are up to the challenge,” Claude says, raising his chin belligerently. Then spoils the effect by taking too large a gulp of his drink and going into a coughing fit trying to swallow it.

“I was planning to leave tomorrow morning,” Danny says, mildly.

“Well, we’re taking my car - yours won’t impress any of those college kids you’re trying to woo.”

“Fine,” Danny says, even though he isn’t entirely sure what he’s getting himself into - or whether it’s even a good idea. He has to remember: look, but don’t touch. If he survives this, well, probably he’ll do just fine running Mariners hockey ops.


End file.
